Scores of Delegates and Coordinators of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Asante Akyem South Constituency, in the Ashante Region, have denied claims by the incumbent Member of Parliament, Kwaku Asante Boateng, that some Coordinators of his closest contender have defected to his camp.
Mr Kwaku Asante Boateng, who is the Deputy Railways Minister, last week stated at a press conference that sympathisers of the Managing Director of the Ghana Post and a former President of the Musicians Union of Ghana, Bice Osei-Kuffour, aka Obour, who is contesting the Asante Akim South parliamentary seat in the impending primaries had defected to his camp.
But the Coordinators, in reaction, have refuted the MP’s claims and empathically stated that no current campaign coordinators in the Obour camp have defected to the MP’s camp.
According to Oheneba Kwabena Agyapong, the Convenor of campaign team of Obour, the report that some zonal campaign coordinators who were in the camp of Obour have defected to join the campaign team of the incumbent MP is not only false, but an attempt by the incumbent MP to deceive delegates.
Oheneba Kwabena Agyapong noted that the MP usually invited all the delegates for a meeting and intentionally used that means to hype himself in the media that they had declared their 100 percent support to him against his contender.
He said Obour, who lost the NPP primary in 2020 by 58 votes to the incumbent MP, is the new face for the constituency and has been fully endorsed by the Chiefs, Clergy and constituents to dethrone the incumbent MP.
The Convener noted in a statement that Obour is committed to the NPP agenda of ‘Breaking the 8’, to assume office for the third consecutive term in power in 2024.
He explained that Mr. Bice Osei-Kuffour, aka Obour, has for the past years undertaken massive developmental projects, including facilitating 300 Youths to get enrolled in the Youth for Afforestation program and facilitating Telephone Network Mast for Muronaim and Amantia communities.
Others initiatives of the Ghana Post Managing Director include the recruitment of about 30 young persons in Immigration, Military, Prisons and Police Service, Ghana Post, provision of Tertiary Scholarships for 20 Students, Foreign scholarships for three students from Asante Akyem South, provision of Sanitation materials and Boreholes/Poly Tanks for several communities in Asante Akyem South as well as the provision of Skills Development and Training for over 50 young persons in the Constituency.
He further explained that the parliamentary candidature of Obour could potentially increase the party’s votes by an additional 10,000 for the benefit of both the presidential and parliamentary candidates.
According to him, NPP votes have declined and that in 2020, while the NPP added a mere 690 votes over 4 years, the NDC significantly increased its votes by about 6,000 in the same timeframe.
“In 2020, NPP’s parliamentary vote increased from 32,526 to 33,200 adding only 690 votes over four years.
“Meanwhile, the NDC went from 15,000 to 21,639 votes for the parliamentary candidate during the same period,” Oheneba Kwabena Agyapong explained.
The convener expressed grave concern about the NPP losing grounds in what has traditionally been an NPP stronghold with the current MP and urged party leaders to take note of the declining numbers in Asante Akyem South while calling upon delegates to carefully consider their decision in voting.
He further emphasiSed the importance of electing a candidate capable of increasing the party’s votes and fostering development in the constituency by electing Obour who is a unifier and a new face to increase the votes for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
